Saturday, July 26, 2008

One Hit News

Following the lead of cities like New York and Philadelphia, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation on Friday banning the use of trans fats in restaurants throughout the state.

The new legislation, Assembly Bill 97, proposed by Assemblyman Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia), makes California the first state to implement a state-wide ban of trans fats in restaurants and prohibits other "food facilities" from using oil, margarine and shortening containing trans fats.

...police yesterday found convicted "spam king" Edward "Eddie" Davidson dead, along with his wife and three-year-old daughter in Bennett, Colo., the victims of an apparent murder/suicide. The incident occurred four days after Davidson, 35, escaped from a minimum-security prison in Florence, Colo.

[...]

Davidson had been serving a 21-month sentence for tax evasion and falsifying computer records.

I think this is really a sad and tragic case. Nobody likes "spam", but - along with his other crimes - am I the only person who thinks that a 21-month sentence seems harsh? The "small-L" Libertarian in me says non-(physical) violent lawbreakers don't need to be spending time behind bars.- - - - -Dominatrix regrets filming Mosley. News24:

A dominatrix who secretly filmed the president of Formula One's governing body in a sadomasochistic orgy said on Friday she regretted her actions, which she said led to her husband's resignation from MI5, Britain's domestic spy agency.

The mother of two - known only as Woman E - said she also was sorry for causing pain to Max Mosley's wife, who was apparently unaware of the activities.

Doctor Thuong Nguyen says that he was washing the patient's skin with alcohol when it burst into flames spontaneously.

Odd-Inge Haagensen, the patient, sees things differently. "The doctor is wrong when he says that the alcohol caught fire by itself. When using cupping as a treatment, the doctor lights the alcohol in order to create a vacuum which "sucks" energy from the muscles," he says.

Shortly before the fire he felt alcohol running down his neck and back. When the doctor lit the cupping glass, he caught fire too, Haagensen explains.

Sir Mick and his fellow Stones will switch all the albums since Sticky Fingers in 1971 to rival record label Universal Music and in a swipe at EMI’s management the band said: “Universal are forward thinking, creative and hands-on music people.”

Look, liking or disliking music is subjective, so all you RS fans out there just chill. The Stones haven't put out a decent, listenable album since 1983's Undercover which is marginal at best. Please, don't waste your time commenting trying to convince me that albums after it - Dirty Work, Steel Wheels, the thoroughly wretched and detestable Voodoo Lounge (excuse me while I hurl blood) or Bridges to Babylon - are listenable. Everything Emotional Rescue and preceding it is fantastic.- - - - -And on that note, a must-read for any audiophile, music lover and downloader. Paying for downloads is like buying air. The Times Online:

The record companies are once again crying over spilt milk. When they experienced a windfall from the compact disc in the Eighties, instead of giving back the love, the industry made the customer feel guilty with its “home taping is killing music” campaign.

Now it is trying to stop illegal downloads by brokering a deal with internet service providers to reduce internet speeds for transgressors. But the £1 billion that the industry estimates it will lose in the next five years due to file sharing is already long gone. The game changed years ago, and a generation has grown up believing that it doesn't have to pay to hear music. It's hard to see why even younger fans would feel different.

[...]

The long-term prospects are bleaker still - new technology has made music a cottage industry. It is so cheap to get recorded music to the audience that artists no longer need a major label.

[...]

In 2008, pop is bottom up, not top down. Word of mouth is all you need.

Technology has changed the scope of music and how it is distributed. The once mighty and revenue-generating record label companies have not kept up with technology, and they have only themselves to blame.

Ok not really but I had to make you sweat... The thing is some artists... perhaps all of them eventually need to say,” I no longer have anything to contribute to music so I am going to retire...Aerosmith and Ozzy jump to mind...

Oh, there ya go. Just hadda open up the Can O Worms on music, didn't ya!

;-)

Uh...I tend to agree with you on Aerosmith, tho I like their older stuff.

I respectfully disagree with you on Ozzy. Here's why: Ozzy still has the voice. He's lost nothing in his vocal talent over the past 20 years, and I don't think it's due to recording studio technology. The guy has amazing pipes. I can't say the same for Jagger, who really never did much for me vocally. He's a natural fit with the style of The Stones and their music, but vocally...feh...he never did much for me.

Tyler with A-smith still seems to have the vocal chords as well. So, guess I'm saying that as long as the voice is still there, keep making music.

Music and the arts in general is so subjective. One man's Pantera is another man's bleeding ear drums.